I created this blog to share some of the hard-to-find items in my collection. I only intend to share music that is out of print and therefore unavailable through the normal commercial channels. Many of these records were originally issued on tiny labels that have long since vanished. Some of them were virtually self-produced, or amounted to little more than demo tapes for the artist. If you see anything here that doesn't fall into the above categories, feel free to let me know in the comments section and I'll take it down. -Chris

Saturday, September 26, 2009

John Nicholas and Friends - "Too Many Bad Habits" - 1977

I originally bought this record mainly because the "friends" included Walter Horton and Johnny Shines, but I quickly became a big fan of John Nicholas. He was out of music for a long stretch, but he seems to be back at it now, and you can get several of his excellent recordings - old and new - by visiting his website at www.hilltopcafe.com

This 1977 Blind Pig release, however, remains very difficult to find, and that's a shame because this is great music. Plus, for harp fans, there is some superb playing by Walter Horton here. Three of the cuts featuring Walter also appeared on his own LP, "Can't Keep Loving You," but the rest have never appeared anywhere else that I know of. Johnny Shines sings a tune, there's fiddling and mandolin, lots of really tasty guitar, soulful singing, and some witty original tunes. Good times with a hellofa bunch of friends. You think any blues artist would get away with having a couple lines of coke on the album cover in these squeaky clean times? Doubtful...

1. Mandolin Boogie2. Looks Can Be Deceivin'3. Too Many Bad Habits4. Sittin' On Top Of The World5. Got The Train?6. Rock My Blues Away7. Blues Walk8. Don't You Mind People Grinnin' In Your Face9. The New Canned Heat10. West Wind11. Blues Came Fallin' Down12. Careless Love13. Gettin' Outta Town14. Hellhound On My Trail